The Invention of Lying

I watched the above-mentioned movie tonight starring Richard Garvis and Jennifer Garner. In a way it was sort of a corny movie but the curiosity got the best of me and I felt like sitting in front of the boob tube tonight. The movie was about a man named Mark (RG) who tells the world a bunch of 'lies' as to ease their minds of what to expect in the afterlife. I won't go into all the details of the movie but his original intent of his lies were to help his dying mother but when other people heard what he was saying to his mother they believed what he said to be true.

The love story intertwined in this movie is that he is in love with his best friend (JG) but she feels she can't love him based on his physical looks. She tells him that she can't love him because her genetic makeup would be far superior to his and it just isn't acceptable to societies standards. (The genuine honesty in the movie is quite funny and I couldn't imagine if we actually talked that way to each other. Quite harsh!)

The irony of the whole movie, from a christian perspective (well, mine anyway), is that what the movie was portraying as lies is actual truth and the truth, to societies standards, are actual lies. The lies he was saying was that there is a 'big man in the sky' and he will build a mansion for everyone (John 14:2). The truth they were believing was that they needed to be matched up with genetically gifted people to succeed in life and that the lead character was considered a loser because he was a short, fat man with a pug nose.

Seems our worldly perspective is distorted through our eyes.

What I also find interesting is that the other night I was reading 1 Corinthians 1:26-29.

Remember, dear brother and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important, so that no once can ever boast in the presence of God. (bold emphasis mine)

God chose this methodology so we would be clear that the power came from Him and not us. It also reminds me of the message in James 1 saying that we should be joyful in our suffering. To our human standards this doesn't make sense, just like it didn't make sense in the movie. However, what I have discovered from my own experience and in others lives is that when you are at your lowest point in life that is where you will find God (or the 'big man in the sky'). Of course, I think God is in our highest points too but I think we completely miss His presence in those moments. Some times it's pride or us just plain dwelling in our own self-righteousness that clouds His presence when we should be giving Him glory and praise in the good times. But it's in the not-so-good moments and when we feel alone that God is with us and we see Him more clearly.

Well, I feel like I'm going off on another tangent with the last part but it sort of ties in together.

Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!